QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — Leaded offensively by Frederick Roy (1g-4a), Mikhail Grigorenko with 2 goals, 1 assist and Adam Erne with 2 goals Quebec trounced the Drakkar.
Gabriel Desjardin photo by Serge Poulin
Being shutout with a man advantage on their first two occasions, Quebec broke the ice on their third power play opportunities with the 20th goal of the regular season by Gabriel Desjardins with 5:17 remaining in the opening period.
Erne with the first of two goals of the night adds to Quebec lead scoring his 24th of the year with only 19.3 seconds left on the scoreboard.
Fans and players didn’t need the story in one of daily newspaper on Tuesday morning to keep in mind the gesture done by Jonathan Lessard (knee to knee collision) against Nick Sorensen where the Danish right winger saw his season ended needing a knee surgery.
Quebec Mikhail Grigorenko photo by Serge Poulin
“It was part of the game,” answered the Drakkar right winger who heard fans in building booing him each time he touch the puck. “Hearing over 12,000 people shouting after you, proved they know who you are and be a good player.”
Talking about the game Jonathan Lessard was the first to recognize they didn’t play as they should have.
“It didn’t go well, it wasn’t our real team you seen tonight. We should play much better tomorrow in Shawinigan against the Cataractes. Throwing money on our bench at the end of the game showed that fans missed some respect. Quebec usually got great fans but I think some missed some respect toward us.”
Already leading by two after first period Quebec came back in second adding four other goals, three inside first 10:00. Already hitting 1-3 with a man advantage Quebec didn’t missed on their fourth power play opportunities with Baie-Comeau defenseman Julien Lepage in the box. Erne with his second of the game scored Quebec third goal only 13 seconds into Lepage penalty.
Quebec’s fourth goal, scored by Marc-Antoine Carrier (first point in junior career), at 6:19 marked the end of the night for starting netminder Philippe Cadorette being the victim of four goals on 20 shots.
Adam Erne photo by Serge Poulin
Grigorenko welcomed former Quebec goalie Jimmy Appleby (5 goals on 21 shots in 33:41) with his first of two goals scored in the middle frame at 9:38.
Perfect in stopping all Baie-Comeau first 13 shots against him, Brassard was unable to do anything on the first Drakkar and only goal of the night a power play goal scored at 14:46. But before the period ended Quebec came back scoring their sixth goal, the second of the night by Grigorenko, less than 2:00 later.
Ending the game with 3 assists, Remparts captain Mikael Tam played another solid game.
“I think it was a great game for the team, we worked very well. Since our last two or three games we played great defensively we just won one game on our last three but we also played good offensively especially tonight. We really exploit our speed tonight, we skates around their defensemen it gave us great confidence offensively,” Tam said.
Quebec completed the scoring adding three other goals, Frederick Roy (1:05), Anthony Duclair on power play (4:28) and Martin Lefebvre also with a man advantage at 15:13 of third period.
For Baie-Comeau head coach Mario Pouliot, his team was totally dominated in every department.
Philippe Cadorette photo by Serge Poulin
“Quebec was two seconds before us on every action it was a very embarrassing situation,” Pouliot said.
Baie-Comeau came to Quebec missing three important players. Carl Gelinas (who began a 5 games suspension), Felix Girard (injured) and Tomas Filippi (injured).
“When your team played against other team missing important players it’s an opportunity for other players who get their chance to step up. You have to make sure to do the job, and tonight our work ethic wasn’t there. Lots of things disturb us and we didn’t control what happened on the ice,” Pouliot observed.
On the other side, Quebec head coach Patrick Roy was really proud of his team. “Tonight we played very solid game, what I like tonight was our intensity, our defensive play, I found we have some speed we were able to use our two or three first step in the offensive zone when we tried to generate offense down low, we moved very well. It was one of our very best games.”
“I felt this coming, in Blainville-Boisbriand we played well even if we were able to score, same thing against Acadie-Bathurst we scored two goals playing good defensively. Like I said in the meeting with our players we go in right direction.”
Quebec will take the road playing next three games in three nights with first game against Saint John Sea Dogs next Friday.
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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